SA to jump to Stage 4 load shedding until Friday

[adrianh]

Banana Republic!!!!!

Eskom has announced that it is jumping to Stage 4 load shedding at noon on Wednesday, and this will continue until 05:00 on Friday.

Stage 2 load shedding will then be in effect until 05:00 on Saturday, as announced by the utility earlier in the week.

"Over the past 24 hours a unit each at Medupi, Kusile and Matla power stations tripped, while a unit each at Lethabo and Arnot power stations were forced to shut down. This constrained the power system further requiring extensive use of emergency reserves and therefore, hampering the recovery of these reserves," Eskom said in a statement.

"Some generating units have returned to service and we anticipate another two units to return to service during the day. In addition, Koeberg Unit 1 is expected to return to service today and begin ramping up to full output within 48 hours."

It said the implementation of Stage 4 is "no cause for alarm as the power system remains to be effectively controlled".

Total breakdowns currently amount to 14 957 MW while planned maintenance is 5 301 MW of capacity.

On Monday night, two units at the Kusile and Matimba power stations also tripped, adding to the strain on Eskom's capacity.

https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy...riday-20211027

[tec0]

Well right now i am camping so i don't really care LOL i ran away from home for a few days. XD

[Dave A]

My saviour at home.



And I put one in at the office to replace the backup generator.



No generator noise and no crashing IT systems.

Last step is to add solar panels.

[adrianh]

Very nice - please tell me more about the system.

[ians]

Dave why Growatt ... is it a hybrid?

Lithium batteries?

[Justloadit]

I have tested 3 systems, and you get what you pay for.

A majority of the hybrid inverters out there are copies of the Aexpert.
You can do a google search for specifications.
I bought a Must 5Kw, it handles the load, no break in power on failure of mains. What it did not do is suck up all the energy from the PV panels and push them into the load.
The fans run continuously but do change speed depending on the load. So if you can hear them then it is annoying to listen to it 24/7
I then bought a Kodak, it fared better than the Must, but I found that if you exceeded the PV power, it would switch to battery then to Mains, but if you overloaded it would shut off, so break in power. The fans run full speed 24/7

The major problem with fans, is that they blow dust into the unit 24/7. This will require periodic cleaning to get the dust out, and fan replacement after a couple of years.

I then bought a Deye, and very impressed with it. It is manufactured by the same factory as Sunsync.
A different animal altogether, and suited for coastal areas, as it is an IP65 unit, and no fans! Not a cheap unit, but well manufactured.

They can run off multiple supplies, and you can connect two PV arrays and a generator.
This is a true hybrid. It sucks every watt out of the PV panels, and will supplement the balance from mains, or battery if you have excess energy in the battery.
What it also does, if there is excess PV energy, by using a CT upstream from your DB board isolator side, feeds power back to your DB board, and can power up loads which are not connected to the inverter, such as geyser, pool pump, aircon, etc.
In this manner you have an extra saving on your mains bill. You can program it to do different controls at different times of the day.
I suggest for best operation, a minimum of 10KW lithium batteries and 3Kw of PV panels. You may need more PVs if you use lots of power.

Just remember when installing inverters, to look into the Neutral Bonding application to ensure that you are SANAS compliant, and have a safe system. Remember that these inverters when they are off grid will float your L and N, and hence the Neutral Earth bond to make your system referenced to ground.

As a recommendation which I experienced. Buy the highest wattage inverter you can afford, you will thank me later.
A 5.5Kw is a little low, which is what I bought, but I never use the inverter to heat my hot water, as I have a Usedasun Solar geyser system, which is my design. So effectively it is enough for our house hold.
If you you do not have any form of solar water heating, then I recommend the 11Kw, or else the 8Kw should be the lowset unit you should buy.

Forget the 1,2,3Kw units they are not going to do much for you when load shedding hits for long periods.

[Dave A]

It's the Growatt SPF5000ES
While it is labelled as an off grid system, it is a hybrid.
5kW constant load rating with up to 7.5kW for 10 minutes or a surge load of up to 10kW (which is handy for dealing with very short burst start-up loads)
Plays well with Dyness batteries which are well priced LiFePo batteries with a 10 year warranty and impressive cycle stats. (Just make sure you get the right comms cable )

I've put in 2 x 3.6kWh batteries in each, which is massive overkill for my home while just acting as a UPS, but is about right for my office install (eats about 12% per hour during normal office hour load).

Why the mix?
It seemed to be the right combination of capacity, robustness and cost effectiveness.
A big plus was the confirmed compatibility of the inverter with the battery system.
Cost of all the bits and pieces totalled R46k (incl VAT). What blows me away is for another R32k in batteries you have something really close to a Tesla Powerwall.

[Dave A]

Just remember when installing inverters, to look into the Neutral Bonding application to ensure that you are SANAS compliant, and have a safe system. Remember that these inverters when they are off grid will float your L and N, and hence the Neutral Earth bond to make your system referenced to ground.

This was literally the first thing I tested with this inverter. Happily no floating neutral when on battery power straight out of the box, so no fiddling around required on that front. I would still test on any new install to make sure you have got the earthing connections right though. In fact, please do all the standard COC tests you should be doing on any changes to an electrical installation

My second test was for any back feed on the utility supply connection with the supply disconnected, another critical safety issue. Also no problem there.

Which brings me to the first "weakness" in this inverter. If you are planning to push back PV energy into the "utility powered supply", this is the wrong inverter for the job. But the ones that do seem to start at double the money...
The other limitation is that there is only one MPPT, albeit quite a well-spec'd one it seems.

My plan is to get a solid understanding of how this inverter performs under PV (get some serious time under SBU configuration), and then start playing with an inverter that will push back into the supply. Perhaps the Deye as commented on by Justloadit above. I've also been told the Goodwe is a good option to explore.

[ians]

There is certainly no one fits all when it comes to inverters.

Some say the Deye is the way to go ...other say the Goodwe and others say the sunsync and the experts will tell you just get a Victron.

I am steering towards a sunsync ... if I had the money a Vistron would be my first option ... but honestly there are just too many options and I have too little experience to comment.

Batteries are becoming another challenge ... once again just too many options.

[Blurock]

Seems like we are really bankrupt now.
No power, no bitumen and one of these days no fuel.
Rumours are that the National Energy Fund wants to buy the Sapref plant in Durban, a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc.
Bloomberg:

The government published new rules in September that require refiners to meet low-sulfur fuel specifications by 2023, which will render most of the fleet obsolete, according to a lobby group representing the fuel manufacturers. Upgrades to process cleaner fuels could be made through green financing, one of the people said.

Shell declined to comment. The company last year said it was reviewing its shareholding in Sapref, which doesn’t factor in to future refinery plans. BP said it has no comment at this stage about potential interest by the CEF, which also declined to comment. South Africa’s energy department didn’t immediately respond to emailed questions.

Some of the nation’s other plants have been shut due to accidents and the Engen oil refinery will be converted into a terminal after suffering annual losses for much of the past decade, the company said in April. PetroSA, which is managed by the CEF, operates a 45,000 barrel-a-day gas-to-liquids plant that was expected to run out of feedstock.

1.Where will they find the mega billions to upgrade the plant which Shell & BP find unsustainable?
2. Trust them to run such a plant if they cannot even organise a pissup in a brewery?

[adrianh]

We haven't had loadshedding but the neighborhood next door are being loadshedded TREE TIMES today....Seems the City of Cape Town don't like them for some reason.

[ians]

Dave do you have monitoring software ... if no check out solar assistant ... I have a couple mecer and RCT inverters using solar assistant ... cheap (R799 for the software only ) and easy to install.

On one site we have been having so major power issues ... using solar assistant has recorded everything ... all the dips and swells ... power outages etc etc.

it uses a Pi3B+ ... you can either buy the kit which comes complete with the Pi .. power supply and cabling or you can buy just the software.

remote viewing on your phone PC or whatever.

[Dave A]

It comes with ShinePhone monitoring software, but thanks for something to compare it to

[ians]

Just be warned ... if you decide to try out solar assistant.

The support is like buying stuff from the China mall ... if and when it works it does the job ... but if it doesnt ... like yesterday and today I am trying to install solar assistant on a new site ... 2 days and I still havent had a response from solar assistant.

[Blurock]

We haven't had loadshedding but the neighborhood next door are being loadshedded TREE TIMES today....Seems the City of Cape Town don't like them for some reason.

We are also lucky not to have load shedding levels 1 & 2. When we do, it is less than other areas. Maybe there are some Anc councillors living in our suburb?